Authorities have confirmed that a four-year-old boy with the H7N9 infection had “basically recovered” from the virus in a Shanghai hospital.

Wu Fan, director of Shanghai's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, announced on Sunday on the city's weibo account that the boy was in “good condition" in what is the first reported recovery from the new strain of avian flu.

The boy was one of three cases reported to the National Health and Family Planning Commission on Thursday. He was last reported to be in "satisfactory" condition.

“His temperature has normalised. There are no symptoms of respiratory difficulties … our observations show that his situation is stable,” Yu Hui, a doctor from the Children's Hospital affiliated with Fudan University told reporters at Eastday News. She said the boy's case proves that there will be mild cases of H7N9 in addition to severe ones.

A recovery period of seven days and two negative tests for the virus are required before a patient can be discharged from the hospital.

Three new cases of H7N9 avian influenza were reported in eastern China on Monday, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to seven and overall cases of infection to 24.

The total number of H7N9 virus infections in Shanghai is now at 11. Five have died, while the other six, including the boy, are being treated in isolation.

Authorities have culled more than 98,000 poultry and all live poultry markets have been shut. Aviaries at Shanghai zoos have also been closed and shows involving birds suspended.

Meanwhile, Shanghai’s Education Commission ordered schools to keep records of any student or staff member calling in sick, with any infectious illness to be declared to the district's centre for disease control and prevention within two hours. Schools were also told to disinfect classrooms sufficiently.

Click on each balloon for more information on individual patients infected with the avian flu virus: blue, patients infected with the H7N9 virus under treatment; red, those infected with H7N9 who have died; and pink, those infected with the H1N1 avian flu virus.